Go Feis - The Irish Dance Blog
by Kathleen O’Reilly-WildRSS 
Recent Posts
- Songs for the 1st – 2nd September Irish Dancing Competitions - VIDEOS
- Songs for the 25th – 26th August Irish Dancing Competitions – VIDEOS
- Songs for the 18th – 19th August Irish Dancing Competitions – VIDEOS
- Songs for the 11th – 12th August Irish Dancing Competitions – VIDEOS
- Championship training for Irish dancers - tips from teachers on Oireachtas Part 1
Archives
BY ERIN BAILEY,
Christine & Sydney celebrate Sydney’s 2nd in the under 11 Preliminary Championships
Colleen M. & Theresa C. from the under 16 Open and Preliminary Championships
McClanahan and Erickson dancers at the end of an enjoyable Cincinnati Feis
BY: CHRISTY DORRITY,
I’ll never forget the feeling I got the first time I competed onstage as an adult Irish dancer. The rush I felt at accomplishing a goal and using talents I previously had shelved when I started a family made me realize that yes, I really could pursue dance as an adult.
If you are like me, you put aside many of your goals and talents after college, thinking that it was time to put away childish things. That’s where we were wrong. Who says Irish dancing is only for kids? In my first Irish class, I danced every week with a woman who was in her sixties. I plan to follow in her footsteps and dance until my body tells me it is time to stop.
It is never too old to start down a road that leads you to a better place. So here are five reasons to embrace Irish dancing today:
Beginner Claire R. with her Louisville Feis plush horse!
Waiting on results!
Feis friends Megan O, Sydney M. and Scout P.
Maggie H. and Colleen M.
The annual Greater Boston Irish Dance Teachers Feis took place Saturday, June 25th with expert tabulation by Jim Montague from FeisWeb.com. Congratulations to all those who placed, especially Ciara Blomberg from Goulding (Open Girls under 9)
Preliminary Championship Boys and Girls under 8 and under 9
1 - Danny Levine (Brady)
2 - Jillian Collins (Gilleoghan)
3 - Rose Harman (Woods)
Preliminary Championship Boys and Girls under 10
1 - Callie Bloom (Harney)
2 - Erin O'Kane (Murray)
3 - Norah Garvey (McInerney)
4 - Lucinda Nevils (Inishfree)
2010 Stephen Scariff School (FL) NAN ceili team
2010 Rince na Tiarna (NY) NAN ceili team
2010 Penk O'Donnell (WC) NAN ceili team
2010 O'Rourke School (NY) NAN ceili team
The July/August issue of North America’s favorite Irish dancing magazine, Feis America, is about to be mailed out to subscribers. With a whopping SIXTY big full-color pages all about North American Irish dancing, this issue packs inspiration, motivation, dedication and celebration from Western Canada to Florida, New York to Georgia and makes a quick journey across the Atlantic for a look at the North Americans who rocked the World Irish Dancing Championships in Dublin this year. The final chapter in Rod Vick’s “The Day the Feis Stood Still” serial will thrill you and three articles shout-out scholarship winners from the Irish Dance Teachers Association of North America, North American Feis Commission and the Southern Celtic Music Association.
See follow-ups and photos from the Big Apple Feis, Peach State, Orlando, Southern Florida, Vancouver, Connecticut Shoreline and the Garden State! The feature article by Patricia McNamara, “Sorority of Seniority” highlights the achievements of several Irish dance schools who are able to retain female dance students through the teen years into adulthood with great results. Learn about the Culkin Family, a dedicated group of adult Irish dancers jigging and reeling their way through life.
Snap back from slip-ups.
Feis America caught up with our friend Shane McAvinchey, TCRG - a star of Jig! The Film - to get the behind-the-scenes scoop and find out what's next for this internationally-renowned performer, Irish dancing teacher and entrepreneur.
Feis America: What was your first reaction when Sue Bourne contacted you about including your ceili team in Jig?
Check out what Feis America's FaceBook fans had to say about seeing "Jig" in theaters this weekend:
Comhaltas Ceoltori Eireann Tent features set dancing with live music!
Clifden Academy (MA) dancers perform St. Patrick's Day Traditional Set.
Lilly Lane, Mary Malloy and Natalie Vaughan
Clifden Academy (MA)
ready to dance at the Boston Irish Festival
The Clifden Academy of Irish Dance entertained the audience at the Irish Cultural Center Dancing Frenzy Tent at the Boston Irish Festival today!
Harney Academy of Irish Dancing put on a great show at the Boston Irish Festival today!
Meet John Whitehurst a star of "Jig" The Film opening today across North America.
One of the most poignant moments in "Jig" is with Amanda Whitehurst and her ten-year-old son John with his teacher John Carey during a dance class. She is just outside the gym doors, watching silently with that end-of-the day tiredness and looking like every mom in the world who has ever waited to collect a child from a lesson or game.
Creative Scotland's award-winning filmmaker Sue Bourne stepped out of the world as she knew it when she decided to pitch creating a documentary of the World Irish Dancing Championships. Her first obstacle was presenting to 100 members of An Comisiun le Rinci Gaelacha in Dublin, whose protective hold on competitive Irish dancing world-wide is a well-known deterrent to all publicity. Bourne was delighted to get full permission to produce the film and set about on a two- year journey to study, select and then chronicle the journeys of 8 solo competitors from New York, Northern Ireland, The Netherlands, and United Kingdom and a team from Moscow to the World Irish Dancing Championships in Glasgow, Scotland in 2010.
Bourne, whose award-winning works include "Mum and Me" which won the Best Documentary Award at the Celtic Media Film Festival and "My Street" which won the Best Documentary at Broadcast Awards, is used to delving deep inside human nature and knocking on doors to get answers to questions nobody else is asking. It's no surprise then that her success is based on trust and an ability to distance herself professionally, resulting in creations that move, inspire and make us think.
Five-time World Irish Dancing Champion and a star of Jig! The Film
Coming soon to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Toronto!
When I finished my dancing career, it was a bittersweet moment. Weekends without morning practices felt strange.
My parents had a bit more time on their hands…and a bit more money.
Sorting through our “Irish Dance closet,” we found a basket of soft shoes deemed no longer worthy, old bloomers, ripped tights and make-up from my earlier competitive days.
Basically, a bunch of stuff we held onto because we never knew what might come in handy for a show or competition down the road. While some items were easy to trash, others took on a new life of their own. My mom took all of the memorable Oireachtas, Nationals and Worlds T-shirts and turned them into a quilt—a graduation present that made the perfect parting gift right before I packed up for college.
Julia O'Rourke
Girls under 11 World Champion 2010
In ninety-three edge-of-your-seat minutes, Jig producer Sue Bourne takes her audience from neighborhood Irish dance studios across the globe to the coveted podium of the 40th Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne, held in Glasgow in 2010. If you're at all familiar with the culture of competitive Irish dancing, you will be delighted to share the journey made by the very best of these athletes; otherwise, you're in for an education and a treat!
Meet friendly rivals Julia O'Rourke from the Petri in New York and Brogan McCay from McConomy in Derry, Northern Ireland; young John Whitehurst and his idol World Champion Joe Bitter who study with 8-time World Champion John Carey TCRG in England; Will Sandun, a Sri Lankan adopted and brought up in the Netherlands known as "The Flying Dutchman"; the three young ladies - all friends - who have battled for the top title for 15 years; the unlikely Ceilidh team of adult Russian ladies from Moscow who with Tir na nOg's Shane McAvinchey TCRG are unwavering in their pursuit of excellence.
Jig opened in theaters across the United States on Friday, June 17th. View the trailer here:
Open Championship under 16 Top 3
Open Championship under 17 Top 3
Preliminary Championship under 12 Top 3
Preliminary Champions under 10 Kyndall and Emily with Jim Mueller, ADCRG, from An Daire Academy of Irish Dance. Photo by Jennifer Abbassian.
Oregon State Championship Feis hosted by the Yeates Academy was held June 4-5, 2011 in Portland, Oregon. From First Feis to Adult special competitions and the full gamut of grade and champion-levels, this event attracts Irish dancers from the Western regions from the U.S. and Canada. Expert tabulation and results by FeisWorx. The following are the results from the Preliminary and Open Championship events, as well as the adult events. Congratulations to all the dancers!
Preliminary Championship under 10
IRELAND - The Show is an innovative and exciting new production celebrating the best of Irish heritage, artistic expression and culture. An amalgam of uplifting and exhilarating Irish entertainment pulses with a raw and energetic beat featuring a cast of All-Ireland and World Champion dancers and musicians.
From the very beginning, the show kicks off with a whirlwind of energy as the musicians create lively tunes, inspiring and pushing the dancers to new levels of expression and transporting the audience to another time and place. Memories of a home long ago reawaken in all of us the sweet memories of sitting in the kitchen of an old Irish cottage, soaking up the atmosphere of Ireland's rich traditions.
Produced by Ethan Walker, choreographed by two-time World Champion Sinead Fallon and featuring breathtaking costumes by international designer Cory Savage (Cher, The Spice Girls, the Pussycat Dolls, Adam Lambert) IRELAND - The Show is ready to take the world by storm!
Feis America fan Katie Waters shows off her well-deserved trophy from the Special Needs Competition at the Buffalo Feis in Hamburg, New York on June 4, 2011.Photo by Lisa Waters for Feis America LLC
Beginner dancers ready to reel!
Photo: Alison L. Bentley for Feis America LLC
Feising friends from Shamrock and Pender Keady Schools (CT).
Open Championship under 15 Awards.
The Irish Cultural & Folk Art Association of Western New York hosted the 46th Annual Buffalo Feis on June 4, 2011, at the Agri-Center in Hamburg, New York. Congratulations to Mary Kay Heneghan, Jim Brennan, the committee and volunteers for another successful event!
Drake School dancers show off their trophies from the Orlando Feis.
Photo: Tessa McKenna
Orlando Feis
May 22, 2011
Orlando, Florida
Host: The Watters School
Results tabulated by FeisWorx.com
Olivia Griffin, Ryan Rob, Sophie Beirne and Carly Reger enjoy themselves at the California Spring Feis 2011! Photos by Olivia Griffin and friends
California Spring Feis
May 29-30, 2011
South San Francisco, CA
Hosted by the Murphy Irish Arts Center www.murphyirishartscenter.net
Results tabulated by FeisWorx - visit www.FeisWorx.com
This Feis Dad is clearly worn out!
Forest City Feis, London, Ontario
Photographer: Kristin Tousignant
Travis Tousignant from Ardan Academy prepping for the feis.
"How the heck can he sleep with 1000+ people, 7 stages going with dancing & musicians - NO idea!"
Location - Mary Woodgate Feis, Mississauga, Ontario
Photo by: (mom) Kristin Tousignant
